The Best Gift is a Book!

Tbilisi

The working group of Hans-Joachim Kiderlen, Kristina Hummel, Pastor Irina Solei and Elena Ilinets worked hard to prepare for the 200th anniversary of our church. On April 8 I had the honor of presenting a publication in which articles were gathered about the history of Swabian settlers from 1817 to 1991. The authors told in an accessible and interesting way why the Swabians immigrated, about the foundation of their colonies, their everyday lives, the tragedies and triumphs of this hard-working people,  as well as their cultural and religious life. In this memorial publication the deportation of Germans in 1941 and the re-birth of the Lutheran church in the 1990s are also reflected.

Usually when you hold a book in your hands you don't think much about what a difficult and long path it takes to publication. Our working group walked that path. The first issue of our “Church News” in 3 languages was printed in July 2001. It looked very primitive, but with time our working group creatively developed and improved our skills in publishing. With time the monthly “Church News” publication steadily transformed into a higher quality product; we've also published brochures and booklets.

And now the chance came along to try out printing a book. Of course it wasn't easy and it was even a bit scary – do we have the skill and strength enough to meet the challenge of printing something of professional quality? It took time to prepare for printing; as usually, we didn't have enough of it. It took us two months to prepare the publication while usually books in such a format take significantly longer to prepare for publication.A three-language publication is not by any means an easy thing! The translation always needs stylistic corrections since we hold to the norms of literary translations.

Having received and edited the translations we were able to start with the design, with the choice of font and finding photos that fit in terms of theme and quality. 

I want to first and foremost thank the authors who responded to our call and made a contribution to this anniversary publication – the Bishop of the Evangelical Church in Wurttemberg  Frank Otfried July, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Georgia Heike Paich, the chair of the foundation for the assistance of the ELCG, Juergen Helwig, Christina Hummel, Bishop Hans-Joachim Kiderlen, lector Temuri Bardavelidze, Pastor Irina Solei, Pastor Garri Azikov, the President of the Association of Germans of Gerogia Garri Augst. Vera Nesterova and Natalia Bairamova from the Church of the Savior in Baku, and Architect-Restorer Nestan Tatarashvili.

We would also like to thank the translators and editors and all who contributed to the design. Shamil Somhishvili in particular suggested an interesting idea for the cover and made it himself – a circle made of portraits of pastors (including the first pastor, Johann-Bernhart Saltet and the last pre-Revolutionary pastor, Richard Maier) and bishops of the ELCG around the Luther rose. It ended up being a wonderful symbol that unites the past and present of our church.

For me it was especially interesting to do something with such a high degree of responsibility – publishing a book. How well it worked will be for our readers to decide.

Elena Ilinets

200th Church Anniversary in Georgia

Tbilisi
The celebration of the 200 years of the establishment of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia began on Saturday, April 8. A summer cafe (“The Martin Luther Cafe”) was opened up in the garden on the terrace; this was possible thanks to the equipment given to us by a congregation from the German city of Heppenheim. This cafe with live accordion music for accompaniment was at the center of the next two days’ events, even if the prices there didn't fully cover expenses. The children from the congregation in Rustaveli performed a German dance and two of them played on the flute. In the yard in the evening when it was cold and dark, music by a jazz trio was muffled by a storm.
In the first half of the day Temuri Bardavepidze and 12 representatives of the youth used Georgian to tell the story of the history of our church starting with German settlers in 1817 until 1917; they did the same thing in the evening, only in Russian. In the second half of the day Pastor Irina Solei spoke about the very difficult times between 1917 and 1991. She invited Nina Mindiashvili, the granddaughter of the last pastor from Tbilisi, the martyr Richard Maier, to join her for conversation. Earlier in the entryway an exhibition of artistic black and white photos was set up that, together with items from everyday life of German settlers, helped tell the history of the church.

Elena Ilinets presented her tri-lingual (Georgian, German, Russian) publication, the first attempt of our newsletter publishing team to print a book. Then Irina Solei and Kristina Hummel spoke about the time of rebirth of the church since 1991. Pastor Albina Zotova led evening prayer.
A joint worship service of all the congregations of the church was held on Sunday morning, April 9, also in 3 languages (or four if you count the prayer in Azerbaijani that was part of the service as well). Pastors Irina Solei, Viktor Miroshnichenko and I led the service which lasted two hours. Among those in attendance were a group of tourists from the Evangelical congregation in Heppelheim. The Tbilisi congregation shared the offering from that service with the congregation in Baku, which was represented by 4 congregational members.
Many people say that the celebrations went really well. 
On the morning after the celebrations, I sat down to write a letter to the President of Georgia expressing my disappointment that the national government sent no state representatives even to the Saturday evening event. The only country represented was Germany – by Ambassador Heike Paich. However the Georgian Orthodox Church honored us with its presence in the person of Protopresbyter Georgia Zviadadze, who welcomed us with great appreciation for our tradition. Also with us were our friends from the Evangelical Baptist, the Armenian Apostolic. Roman Catholic, and Adventist churches. Of course Pastor Varlam Ramishvili from Batumi and Beka Mindiashvili from the Committee of Religions were also there. 
Hans-Joachim Kiderlen

Luther Days in Georgia

Tbilisi, Georgia
  Salt is a valuable thing, used for preserving food and for improving its taste. At the same time salt is a wonderful symbol of the significance of the Christian faith: Christianity “flavors” the world with its witness in word and deed of loving God and loving neighbor while preserving people from decay. “The Christian Church as a Minority and as 'Salt of the Earth'” was the theme of the now-traditional, annual Luther Days in the Church of the Reconciliation February 10-15.It's too bad that so few people responded to the invitation and the audience was made up mostly of congregation members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia (ELCG).
  On February 10th, on Ash Wednesday, Pastor Viktor Miroshnichenko led worship at dedicated to the beginning of Lent. At the end Bishop Hans Joachim Kiderlen opened up the event, and then Pastor Irina Soley made a quick overview presentation of the Luther Days from 2012 to 2015. The days triumph was a theatrical presentation “Luther in Georgia,” written by Bishop Kiderlen and directed by Irina Mamisashvili.
  On the next day Pastors Soley and Miroshnichenko led Bible study on the theme “You are salt of the earth.” (Mt 5.13). Participants got a detailed answer to the question of why Christians are called “salt of the earth.” The organizers of the event also showed a film about the sad sated of church buidlings in Holland, which frequently fall into private hands and are turned into hotels, gyms, cafes, etc. Everyone was shocked by the way these “houses of prayer” have been treated and the words of Jesus were recalled “  Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” (John 2.16).
  On February 12th the annual reception of the ELCG was held, during which Bishop Kiderlen gave a speech and the “Gloria” choir led by Natalia Chaganava brought joy to the congregation members and many guests with their wonderful singing. During this evening the Ambassador from Germany Bettina Kadenbach, representatives from the Georgian Orthodox Church and civil organizations of Georgia as well as partners of the home-care diaconal service – the director of the Psychological Center Professor David Zurabashvili, Medey Azarashvili the head of the social services department of the Chuguret region, Maya Mikadze from “Caritas” and many others. 
  Professor Tamar Tsopurashvili (Ilia Chavchavadze State University) gave a paper entitled “The Division of the Inheritance of the Reformation between the State, Society and Church” on February 13th. She speak of the results of the effect of the Reformation on social, economic and cultural life.
  On the next day the sermon at the Church of Reconciliation was given by Pastor Varlam Ramishvily from St. Trinity church in Batumi. In the evening Baptist Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili gave a paper called “Reformation or Adaptation to the Spirit of the Times (aggiornamento) in Georgia.” The word «aggiornamento» in translation been “renewal, “modernization.” Is it possible for there to be a renewal of the Church in contemporary Georgian society? What is the main call of the Christian churches? These were the kind of questions that were brought up in the lively discussion afterwards. 
  Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili compared the Church with a locomotive which moves society, the progress of which is impossible without such higher Christian values as love, mercy and mutual help. The modernization of the Church in the contemporary world is possible only within the context of constructive dialog among all the Christian churches and among all religions. We are all God's children, created “in his image and likeness” and we are all significant for God without regard to our religion, sex or ethnicity. The Luther Days came to a close with a discussion on the theme “the realization of reformation churches of their position in relationship to the state and society using the example of Georgia.” The discussion was led by Nino Lezhava (Heinrich Boell Foundatio n). Those on the podium for this discussion were representatives of the Lutheran, Baptist, Armenian Apostolic and “Word of Life” churches as well as the chair of the Committee for Religions Beka Mindiashvili. The discussion was started by Pastor Irina Soley who noted that the ELCG tries to preserve its traditional identity and faithfulness to its German roots while at the same time being open and active to participate in the life of society and the state. An example of such civil involvement could be the Evangelical Bapist Church, the bishop of which Rusudan Gotsiridze compared the Church to a prophet which should preach the truth to society to speak God's truth and to fight for justice. Father Narek from the Armenian Apostolic Church expressed his concern that the Georgian Orthodox Church gets all the press while at the same time there are other traditional Christian churches in the country, too, which would like to speak about themselves and about their spiritual values. 
  Beka Mindiashvili thanked the Lutheran church and Bishop Kiderlen in particular for taking the initiative to enhance mutual cooperation between the Chuches. Pastor Givi Kutelya from “Word of Life” Church noted that the voice of small and newly-founded congregations that are capable of witnessing to Christ in word and deed should be heard. Nino Lezhava concluded the discussion with the suggestion to everyone that it would be possible to use the upcoming anniversaries in 2017 (200 years since the first German settlers came to the Caucuses and the 500th anniversary of the Reformation) in order to tell Georgian social about Protestant churches and the role of the Reformation in world history.
Elena Ilinets
Irina Soley
Gayna Melkonyan-Chikhradze

The Congregation of the Reconciliation in a Multicultural City

by Anton Chakhlou

  The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia was founded in the 1820s by Schwabian Germans who came here from the Wurttemberg area. In 1895 in what was then a new part of Tbilisi a large church building, St. Peter and Paul's, was raised thanks to the offerings of the local German community. Congregational life ended in the 1930s after the death in Stalin's repressions of Pastor Richard Meyer. The church building was destroyed in 1946 on the order of Soviet powers by German prisoners of war. A memorial plaque was installed on the place of the former church building (now known as Mardjanishvili square) on September 6, 2013.
  Only in 1991 did the Lutherans of Tbilisi have the chance to revive their Church. On the plot of a former German cemetery a cultural center with the Church of the Reconciliation was built; it was dedicated in 1997. This congregation is the largest in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia; it has a few hundred members. Although it was built on a German foundation it is not multi-ethnic with a ever-rising number of Georgian-speaking members. Worship services are held on Sundays and holy days in Georgian, German and Russian languages. On Saturday evenings prayer services are ed by active church members. The Bishop of the church lives there and there are three pastors and one lector. A three-language, monthly newsletter is published. 
  Next to the congregational center is the Johann Bernhard Saltet House, named after the first Lutheran pastor in the city. There is a small retirement home, cafeteria and diaconal station there. This building is the central part of the structure of the Evangelical Lutheran Diaconal Service of Georgia, founded in 2000. In 2014 the diaconal home care service was founded through the congregation and it service not only congregational members but others in the community as well. This has done a lot to create a positive image of the Lutheran church in Georgian society.
  The Church of Reconciliation maintains ecumenical contacts especially with religious minorities in Georgia as well as with the government, with consulates and NGOs. There are large and small church concerts which are very popular among the city's inhabitants. 
The congregation has many active congregational ministries: e.g., a Sunday school as well as teenager, youth, men's and women's groups. The choir sings during worship and at celebratory events. The children and youth of the congregation are constant participants in summer Christian camps. For many years now the women of the congregation prepare the World Day of Prayer service in March. The annual Luther Days has become a good tradition of the Georgian Lutheran Church. 

  Without a doubt it would be better for the church if the quantity of congregational members was more or less the same in all places; this would all the congregations to develop in their own way in their own towns. However the current economic realities of the country are such that some congregational members find it necessary to move to the capital to look for a better life. Congregational members of the Church of Reconciliation welcome these and other new members with great hospitality. In this way the congregation proves that it has the right to occupy an important place in the kind of open and multicultural city that Tbilisi has always been. 

Synod Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia

Tbilisi

The Annual Synod Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia was held on November 21. Honored guests of the assembly were representatives from the Armenian Apostolic and Georgian Orthodox churches and Klaus Rit from partners in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wurrtemburg. 

The main work of the synod consisted of hearing the 2015 reports from the synod council as well as adopting a budget for 2016. 

The offerings and expenses for 2016 are not expected to change much, and that means that the ELCG remains dependent on outside sponsors. Something new this year is the transfer of additional funds from the central office to congregations for diaconal work among congregational members. As usual the Synod listened to reports from church council presidents and from the coordinators of womens', mens' and children's work as well as the head of the summer camps committee. 

The synod assembly made a number of important decisions:

1. Gayan Melkonya-Chikhradze took over for Nanya Menteshashvili as the representative of the Rustaveli congregation in the synod council. 

2. The make up of the Presidum was changed to include the treasurer, insofar as it is critical for this church officer to take part in important decisions of the Presidium.

3. Natali Kaiser was named the ELCG treasure; her qualifications include having a degree in economics and being fluent in German, which is important for contacts with German partners. In this way all of the responsibilities of Christina Hummel have been split among three persons: the chair of the Evangelical Lutheran Diaconal Service of Georgia Larisa Babaeva, the accountant of the ELCG Tima Aresheva and the ELCG treasurer Natali Kaiser. We wish God's blessing to this team of servants! 

Synod delegates considered two documents - "A Petition to the City Council (Sakrebulo) of Tbilisi Requesting Renaming a City Street in Honor of Martin Luther" and "A Resolution Concerning the German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ukraine (GELCU)." The request to the city council is made upon the basis of the contribution of German immigrants to the culture, architecture, industry and agriculture of Georgia and is tied with two anniversary - the 200th year anniversary of immigration of Swabians from Wurttemburg to Georgia and the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The resolution related to the GELCU is tied with the situation of the church in Ukraine and the loss of unity in the church. Both documents were approved unanimously by synod delegates.

The work of the synod assembly was done in a constructive atmosphere in which it was clear that everyone was looking for decisions that would be for the good of our church and to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Irina Soley